Not Until We're Married
by laughingcactus62
Summary: When little Winter and Jacin play in front of Noelle Clay's eyes, a memory flashes to a time when Solstice Hayle existed. This is a one-shot about a sentence Jacin mentioned in Winter (book) about the only time he ever tried to kiss Winter and she replied, "Not until we're married!"


Noelle Clay had been watching the two young children run around the room for hours. The eight year old girl kept shouting sweet teasing remarks to the ten year old boy. The boy in response was trying to jump through all the obstacles the girl had tried to create in the living room. But he was too fast, and to the little girl's dismay, he tackled her onto the couch and they both rolled on their backs in fits of laughter.

She smiled sweetly and watched her son make declarations of winning to his best friend. Winter in return, pushed him off the couch and he fell with a thud.

"Now, I'm the winner!" She said with a defiant smile and charm Noelle had always been enamored with. Winter proceeded to peer from the edge of the bed and see a mischievous Jacin laying on the floor.

"Alright, Winter. You win," He said it with disappointment, but his face said something else entirely different as he raised a hand up to her. "Can you help me up, now?" She watched as sweet Winter—ever so trusting of Jacin—reached down and grab onto his hand. It would have been a quiet and lovely scene of friendship for Noelle to watch, but of course it was ruined. Jacin yanked Winter's hand with both his and she came tumbling down the bed onto the floor on him.

"Jacin!" Winter exclaimed loudly, but with a smile on her face."

"I guess we both lost."

Before Noelle could watch them get into more rambunctious behavior, she interrupted them from the kitchen. "Jacin, Winter, the pastries are ready!" The two children came running up to the table and were about to grab the desserts, when Noelle held up a finger, which stopped them in their tracks.

"Strange… I don't think I saw anyone wash their hands… Did I?" She gave a knowing look and the two peas in a pod retreated to the bathroom quickly with abrupt apologies.

She smiled to herself as she set the kitchen table with plates and warm cups of milk. Whenever Winter was over, Noelle used to become embarrassed with the small size of their apartment compared to the palace and how very un-luxurious their food was. She would try to make more interesting food until one day, the princess asked kindly if she could have Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. It was such a simple lunch meal that poor children received every day for school, and yet the princess herself had requested it! She laughed to herself, thinking how silly it was to impress the princess, when in reality the princess just wanted to be normal.

Jacin and Winter returned to the table and sat down. They both were eyeing one particular pastry, and Noelle had wished she had gotten two of each pastry. Then as if they read each other's minds, they said, "You cut, I choose?"

Jacin broke into a smile and spilt the pastry, and in return Winter choose which piece she thought was bigger. To Noelle, they both looked equal. "So," Noelle began, "What are you two going to do today?"

Winter's honey brown eyes brightened with enthusiasm. "Oh! Jacin and I were going to find that cat in the gardens. I think he's in need of a home."

Jacin slouched in his chair with a groan, "Winter, the cat is a stray! We should just leave it alone. Besides, I wanna play that virtual game I downloaded yesterday."

Ah, the fantasy game that all Artemisian kids were so obsessed with nowadays.

Winter shot back in defense, "How would you feel if you were all alone and didn't have a family?" She scrunched her eyebrows in worry. "The poor thing has been in the gardens for weeks. Its probably starving."

Jacin, unconcerned, grabbed another pastry off the plate, and took a bite thoughtfully. "If I was a stray cat, I would be surviving with my natural instincts. And judging by his fat tummy, I'm sure he's doing fine." Noelle tried but failed to hide her small smile. She took a sip of milk instead. Of course Jacin would think such a thing. He very much tried to model himself after his father, who was just as logical as him.

Winter sighed dramatically, "Well, of course he's surviving! He's still here, isn't he?" Her voice became more quiet and shy. She began to daintily pick at the crumbs from her pastry. "But he's in need of love. He needs someone to go home to and tell him everything is going to be all right."

Jacin stopped chewing and Noelle looked up at Winter. It occurred to Noelle why this was so important to the little girl. Her father had died years ago, and her mother had died during labor. The only person alive in her family, was her stepmother, who spent more time sneering at the child then soothing her. When Winter was scared, lonely or in need of love, she came to the Clays tiny apartment, because they would tell her everything was going to be alright.

Noelle reached over and gave a motherly rub on her arm. She tried to smooth a loose, tight curl from her ponytail, but Winter was too busy giving a pleading look to Jacin. "Please?"

Noelle already knew his response. Jacin would never say no to Winter.

One heartbeat later, he responded with an eye roll, "Fine."

Winter jumped up in response, screaming many replies of 'Thank yous and gave Jacin a big kiss on the cheek. His only response was a blush that rose from his cheeks to his ears.

Noelle got up and began washing the dishes. She noticed a moment of silence and from the corner of her eye, she saw Jacin try to kiss Winter. She paused in disbelief at Jacin's bold move and thought that this was young, innocent love playing in front of her eyes. But as quickly as she thought it, Winter pushed him away gently and exclaimed, "No silly! We have to wait until we get married."

Noelle stopped altogether and her mind drifted.

When Sol was pregnant with Winter, Noelle remembered visiting her quite often in her Store. Noelle was so happy for her, since she knew it had taken Sol many times to get pregnant. She was in her first trimester, but already the bump had begun to grow. Throughout the pregnancy, Solstice was very sick, still she never failed to smile with such beauty and grace.

One slow day, as they were lounging in the changing room's sitting area of Sol's Store, the two of them had begun throwing names out if the baby was to be a boy. In Luna, it was tradition that you didn't know the baby's gender until birth. Suddenly, Solstice spoke wistfully, rubbing her tummy gently. It looked as if she was stroking a harp, with the grace of her fingers. "Wouldn't it be nice for our children to grow up and be best friends?"

Noelle was cradling one year old Jacin in her arms and let out a quiet laugh. Jacin was asleep. "My mother had tried to get pregnant the same time her cousin had, and I ended up hating Auden when we were children. He was such a bully. Guess their plan failed, considering I'm not very close with him."

Sol widened her eyes in surprise, "Really?"

She nodded.

"Stars, let's hope that doesn't happen to us."

Noelle couldn't help but play with the idea of her fantasy. "Can you imagine if you have a girl, though? What if they fell in love and got married?"

Sol giggled happily in response, "Noelle that would be perfect! We'll be an official family. The Clays and the Hayles finally coming together. I love it!"

Noelle smiled and reached for her hand, squeezing it gently.

She came back into focus as she felt Jacin and Winter give her kisses of goodbye on her cheeks and dash out the door, plotting how to catch the stray cat.

A tear streaked down her face once they left, and she quickly wiped it away. There was no point mourning for the dead now. She cleared the table and got ready for her work shift.


End file.
